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[gadder]

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[horsearchery]

I'll explain.

[ How frustratingly non-specific. ]

Where in the park?

[ She's already moving on her end. ]

[gadder]

Eastern entrance. You probably can't miss me.

[ For his part, he'll stay where he is, sprawled under the shade of a large tree and trying to stay cool. ]

voice => action;

[horsearchery]

Mmm.

[ Click. Inside a quarter of an hour, Hayame appears at the eastern entrance of the park. Sure enough, Mikuni is hard to miss. She increases her lethargic pace to a slow canter and then slows again as she enters the shade. Hayame doesn't sit or lay down--she just stands there, looking intensely awkward. ]

I have a request.

[ She doesn't fidget, but there's tnesion in her frame, unhappy and anxious. ]

Even if it's selfish of me to ask this of you.

[gadder]

[ She always looks unhappy, he thinks. True, his memory is faded a bit, but he never remembers her ever really being any kind of happy. Then again, were any of them during those terrible times? He sits up a little and gives her a bit of a wave. ]

I'll see what I can do, depending on the request. What is it?

[horsearchery]

When you get home...

[ 'When' she says, not 'if.' There's apparently no doubt in her mind that at some point he and probably Konoha will have to go back to their lives. She bows a little at the waist, stiff and awkward. ]

When you get home, if you can remember where it was that it all happened...

[ Where she's buried. ]

Will you visit Mount Tsurugi and light some incense for me?

[ She looks ashamed when it comes tumbling out all at once. Perhaps it's simply the reminder that the future has passed her by from Konoha's post. Maybe it's just the nagging guilt of being somehow alive when she knows that she should be dead.

Maybe it's just a desire for someone to think of her with something like fondness. ]

[gadder]

[ Oh.

That's not what he was expecting to hear. He freezes for a brief moment and then he surges onto his feet so he can face her properly. This is a request that requires a proper response. He bows to her after a moment and then nods, serious and solemn. ]

I will.

[ He steps forward, of a mind to take her by the hands. ]

You aren't forgotten Hayame. I promise.

[horsearchery]

[ Her arms close in tight against herself as he reaches out. A pre-emptive closing off from contact. He might be Mikuni but he's also still a stallion and there's something about that that sets off a horrid sense of sick dread and anger deep in her gut. ]

It is best if I am, but I'm selfish enough to ask for this. That's all.

[gadder]

[ He draws back. If she doesn't want him close, then he won't be. Even if it feels off. Awkward. ]

It isn't selfish in the least.

[ He sighs. ]

...don't dwell on it, Hayame. It won't help.

[horsearchery]

I do my best not to do that.

[ She means it. She's trying her best to live, now, after all that's happened. What else is she supposed to do but live with this time she's been given? ]

I just know that you... you and Konoha both will go home eventually. I might be dead again, properly dead this time. If I have a chance to make such a request, I thought I should do it now while I have the chance.

[gadder]

I understand.

[ He thinks he does, anyway. It's hard to know. ]

I'll do it. When ever it is I make it home.

[horsearchery]

[ Hayame is stiff and silent for a moment, then, awkwardly: ]

Thank you.

[gadder]

You're welcome, Hayame. Please... don't be a stranger.